The St. Johns school board voted last week to accept bids for the sale of the former East Olive Elementary School building, creating uncertainty for the nonprofits and community programs that currently call it home.
- St. Johns school board voted to sell East Olive Community Center that houses nonprofits and community organizations
- Friends of East Olive nonprofit hopes to buy the building after investing $480,000 in upkeep
- Bidding won't start until summer, board plans to work with the community center
WATCH: East Olive Community Center faces uncertainty
The East Olive Community Center hosts Special Olympics, sports teams, nonprofits, programs for adults living with disabilities, the local Toys for Tots program and more. The building has served as a community hub since 2018, following the elementary school's closing in 2017.
"We knew that right now we were a tenant of theirs and that ultimately there would have to be some decisions made," said Carrie Ramirez, building director for the community center.
Ramirez was an East Olive parent when the school closed. She helped form the nonprofit that approached the district about using the building.
"A group of us parents formed a nonprofit and went to the district and said, hey let us try this. And overall its been a pretty big success in terms of using the building, making it a usable resource for the community and bringing us all together," Ramirez said.
The potential sale concerns Angelica Lanning, who leads the local Toys for Tots program which utilizes the building.
"Now that means we're going to have to find not only somewhere that can store close to 2,000 toys throughout the year, and then host our distribution event, which obviously is large with over 900, close to a thousand kids that we're gonna be serving," Lanning said.
The school board won't begin accepting bids until this summer. Ramirez hopes the Friends of East Olive nonprofit will have a chance to purchase the building.
"We are working with the district. They know we've put a lot into this building. Over the years, we've invested about $480,000. You know, I think they're gonna take the history into consideration and that's important," Ramirez said.
School board members say they plan to work with the community center to explore options for keeping some programming in the building. The district also currently operates its Little Wings childcare program at the location, which is expected to move to a new early learning center on Tolles Road when construction is completed this fall.
For now, Ramirez says it's business as usual at the community center.
"This has just been a place where really great things have happened. Whether it's school or beyond," Ramirez said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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